Not all of the warnings you receive about viruses are real. For some reason, many people out there enjoy creating a stir by sending hoax virus warnings. These warnings are then picked up and passed on by others who honestly believe they are doing you a service by sending you the warning. So, how can you tell if a warning is real or a hoax?

Hoax viruses usually claim to infect your computer just by your reading an email message. There is no known mechanism for a virus to infect your system in this way. If you receive an e-mail message warning of a disk being erased just by reading an e-mail message, please do not pass it on. The spread of the rumors has become a serious problem on the Internet.

You can find more information about hoax viruses is available at the following URLs:

http://kumite.com/myths

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/

However, this does not mean that viruses are not a real and serious threat to your computer, your data, and your computer network. You CAN get a virus by reading an attachment in an email message, such as an MS Word or Excel document, which is infected by a macro virus. You can also get a virus by running an executable program (such as *.exe , *.com or *.bat) someone e-mails you as an attachment.

You can help protect your computer against viruses by installing anti-virus software (Symantec, McAfee, and Dr. Solomon's and are just three examples), and by updating your anti-virus software regularly.

If you have any questions, please e-mail us at osuweb@osu.edu or give us a call at 614-688-HELP (4357) or toll-free at 1-800-678-6003 8 AM to 7 PM weekdays, excluding holidays.